Process for making material for use in the manufacture of process cheese



Patented Jan. 1946 MAKING Mmmm. FOR USE I in Iran AnuFncrUaa oF' mooass PROCESS FOR CHEESE Higbee Wayne Bryantgtoclrtom-llh, as slznor to v Kraft Cheese Company, a corporation of Delaware No brewin Application Apr-i128, 194s,

7 Serial No. 484,858 l Claims. (cl; set-11's) time to insure thorough matting or the'curd, the.

Process cheese, as that term is used herein,

means a type of cheese usually in retail package form which, in the course of its manufacture, has been subjected to a temperature high enough to render the material fluid-or plastic,

so that it can be molded or causedtoassume the" shape of the interior of the container in which i; it is to be packaged and sold. An example of such processing operation is found in the United States Patent to James L. Kraft, No. 1,400,171.

The material used-in the manufacture of process cheese has usually consistedlargely of cheese in the usual form and unit sizes produced by the usual country cheese factory. These units, in

general, have been subjected to the usual curing" I methods customary in the case of natural or unprocessed cheese, for the required length of time to develop the desired body, flavor and texture,'

the period of cure in most types of cheese being seldom less than thirty days and perhaps extending, in the case of some types of cheese, to

as long as six months or a year." The expense or holding the cheese in the curing room' forthese periods plus the expense of treating or caring for the units of cheese while being cured, and the cost of handling, is considerable.

I have discovered that, in the-manufacture of cheese of the class which consists of Limburger, brick, and Camembert and Roquefort'the curing of the cheese, 1. e., the developmentof the heat processing, can be efiected by subjecting the 130 required body, flavor and texture suitable' 'for' curd or. uncured cheese to proper conditions, in"

the form of relatively small chunks, fora reia tively short time, for example afew days, thereby saving the expense of forming'the curd, in the cheese factory, into units of the usual shape and size and without the necessity of subjecting such units to the usual curing treatment fo a pro- "40 longed period of time;

' General method According to the general method which i have found successful in applying my discovery to the above-specified types of cheese, the milk, having first preferably been pasteurized, is treated. in about the usual manner until. the curd has been formed and cut. Then, after the temperature of the vat has been raised and maintained at an elevated temperature while the contents of the whereasit pasteurized milkisi used, about onecurd is cutup. and sub-divided into smallchunkshaving a' thickness not .materially'. more than one .7 inch. Chunks in theform-of three-quarter inch cubes'appear to satisfy this ,size requirementverywell.

dry out or develop After the chunks 11 consumption. i I Specific Esample N0, 1"

In' the case of Limburgertype cheese, either raw pasteurized whole mfiik ormilk standardized" The chunks of curd are then preferably. washed with cold water or placedfin a bath of cold water j for a short time was inetfect jto llrm -the curd and prevent further matting; The chunks air then placed in trays and subjected to the re f quired. treatment or conditions to develop prop- 1 erly' thedesired body, flavor and textureHfOrf dinarily lunar e advisable' from' time to time, to stir the material inthe trays so as to insure that all of the chunks are'properly exposed to I j the atmosphere while,- at the sametirne, it is ad -j. visable to maintain such atmospherid c"onditions that the exterior surfaces'of the chunks donot "be h l fi'atdlf '1. a suflicientlength of time, th -chunks are proc -Qj' essed, i. e., consolidatedor-fused together by the. v

to a; definite fat content maybe used'a's'the start ing material. If unpasteurized milkis employed, it may not be necessaryto addjany-lactic'starter,

halito one per cent of lactic-acid starter isadded vat have been suitably agitated, the whey is drawn 011, all practically in accordance with the usual practice followed with thattype of'chee'se.

After the whey has been drawn off, the curd is pressed in the vat. After a sufflcient length or to the yat. The temperature of the milk'is raised to 86? to 9 0? F. after;theusualouantityoi rennet has been added, ari'd itis" held at that temperaand has reached the required consistency for "cutting. j-This ordinarily takes-about twenty-five minutes.

'I'heicurdis cut into cubes offrom one quarter to one half inch in sizegand then the tempera' tureeis raised from 2 to 12 F and agitation is" immediately. commenced. It is held at this telnr continued. 'This usually takes from one-half to one hour,at"the end of which time enough whey 1 a is drawn on? so that the level of liquid drops to a point where the curd'begins to stick out.

' inst the depth-9f matflrialfgin the -.t1:ays gas s "not entiat ,0% zfog co idi ibm :other times,

Yb in' th the vmatB idal in r-i-thelgtrays :i

eadda .flve per cent Ehrine solution will which the scurd is'soaked iorvzten :oriiiteenminutes. {Howesever, thatei'senot n e ry e t metur gzmmb reer vm h e mypnocess,

the procedure the customary, old, inin burser-cheese making method,

' Ha ms'dw d i -m sket the =v ey, -the xcuiids :1. -;-ln athe4iisharge ends)! the vat;;are distributed eparts isomeric-,1: which is norma lylicllowed 11m? bv r tne up r mt o sso-aa to" oncen r ate :th

curd igin' uniform layer :in the pertwo-thirds ,oi' the length of the "vat- 2am! hereby obtain {a somewhat thicker zbed of curd than otherwisemould'he obtained. 'l' rheicurfcl -is'fsthen eoyenedwith a seriesof e-hefiY yJflne-vmeslh screens,; 1n{ade -.of vwire or perforated metal, rover vwhich :scneens S .evenlydistributeda eight o zaboutiflnetholl fl pd .or vfifteen-hundrecl; mn-the basis a .inse aeacityi ten-thousand ,POllIldS-JOf ofthe usual-rectangular-va strips about six inches wide, which may 'ihe -turtherzsub-divideed intolengths'pflabout afoot, and,

as it is found that, ounder theconditions gstated, ithe bed oh'nattedzcurda' ahoutsixinchesin depth 1 Ssthe crossrsectionlofzehe stri L ab e v V, We: "ment 1 18 mac ine? hichisubediv aese .blocksof curd "into threeuarter inch cubes. After dicing, :the cubes are promptly mu; ack intoithe wat-where-iERQY aregsoakedtin -ico-l Water (560 E for about-ten re i rathintyzminutes.

:firms the lphuliks :axidQireYlitS ithem gf-rom sizematting, v V ,he. -c wate "t a d ined :Qf i he .of material, and then the ichunks ar saltedin .pthezmathy;scatteringcorssprinkl n'g hereoneahout three gcent of athei r weigh V iiirdinfi f idly salt, .:sodium chloride. Prefera s salt lo ed by-ia f h neush; properly distribute he salt. 7

After the saltizifg the the lilatandrput ino arse tray 'made 1915 wood or stainlessgstee'l ahdof gsllc h xsize exceed about six inches The itrays containing the salted chunks are athen movedjihtothe "curing room @where iihy tare "left 1tostarid :over :night."

a ne ';m n ine h hurxs ithtreys e my alti oontent .-and I ethegsalt :15 n01 v by-lsprmklin thi iu t add ticxeof saltizthe mer t of th traysgiare gthQt u hl 7 v atersuspension ,of a pure culturegofe lactos r fermentingyeast and muc l ak'ed to} ter, the material distributetheculture.

isiorkedeatf leastzthree tlrnes dui lngethe flrstflday in t e c in room.

At :the beginning 10f :the Ven s; will ;iday in the -.curing .ro'om, \the;pH;of:the rnateziial tatterasalting r d ;ehove '-9D eat wtime-it enters the curing rooni;

terl mml .1-5 %-:sa1t solution. At this time, the -';-.pH otethe material-has risen :to about-5.27, at which mm itli'e aflacterium linen c lt re commences to ;dev e lop rapldly, and theyeast stops growing. aterial hasfibeen-in the curing ,room iota-bouts week, ithasgacgui-red the desired i'body, ,flavor and texture so that it -.can: b,,e processedby heat in the isualmanner. Theprocessing is car- ;ried on at'ia temperature .of about 200 :I'he

7 :material, afti'abeing preoessem isjiound to possess 7 all :of the desirable characteristicsv of well-cured ZnaturalLimhurger cheese. y

e Specific Example "N0. .2 lntthe case or Vbrick'type cheese, there;is@added to the :pa'steurized milk, in addition to the usual amount .of lactic aac d starter, about' one-half to .oneper cent of :aLactobaci l'lus wb ulguricusx t liaure, and. thestemperature :,of.;,the .vat'is raisedto from 86 to 299 ;:F. v Aiter the curd has been set and cut, .it is tadvisable .to a-rai se (the temperature 420 about90 to 102 F. in order etc-firm :the;.curd and reduce the moisture as 1compared 'withgth usualiBrlck tygpeeheese ma;lsiif g prooess. Before-draw ine the wh t mate ial ripened nti th vacid. -;has increased from s01 to .03%. {Ilhe whey .is then drawn, and the 'v-subsequeht procedure is the same {as in the case .of .my new Limburger type imethod except ,that the Bacterium linens :culture 1is; not' added, and the material' 'is :held in -;.the-curin g room 'for about -.tw0 .or1th1?eeJdays at which tyne Zita-is re dy "to iproces. The -xnaterial betone processing ;;contains about 10% to 112% moisture. ilhe processing is redone atv a temperaqt nenffahout F. v v e efs iflcmampleFor; 51 the manufacture of gcamembert cheese ior processing, the procedure followed issubstantially thesameas in the caseof Limburger eig ceptuthat,

.insteadlof using a pureculture of Bacteriufiiiiiiim or lactose fermenting yeast I ruse a pure culture of Penicillium camemberti'andthe material is igept inatheccurlngcroom eat-,atemperature of 68-F. I

and v at azhumidity of about .70 to 85% e cur u ficie tly p essi i h equ zus a o n to :twaweeks'ifroxi ithe The scope ,of the invention should ;be}deterrrninedsbymeferenceto the a'ppended claims.

improvement in manufacturing cheese of :the classzwhich consists of :the Limbur ger brick and-pamembert yarieties, ewhichcomprises form ing and cuttin the ,curd, .d ne z ffithe whey, mattin the lcurd; t n subdivid rietheicurdint chunks not materially :more than ;One {inch in hiokness, promptly Washing the jchunks' to preent re-,-matti ng, subjecting the surfaces of the hunks to the action of aerohicorganisrns appro- :EPEiQt D B' the particulanvariety ofechees desired, in ja suitable atmosphere; sq t ripen thevch nk i y durin -,an' interval of time :so short that undesirable ind v me sub stantially prevented, and eth na qy .eon u,

thickness, promptly washing the chunks to prevent re-matting, subjecting the-surfaces of the chunks to the action of aerobic organisms appropriate for ripening the particular variety of cheese desired, in a suitable atmosphere, meanwhile stirring the chunks from time to time to insure uniform exposure of their surfaces to said atmosphere, so as to ripen the chunks individually during an interval of time so short that undesirable rind development is substantially prevented, and

then promptly consolidating said ripened chunks 29 by heat to form finished, cured cheese suitable for immediate sale and consumption.

3. The improvement in manufacturing Limburger cheese, which comprises forming and cutting the curd, draining on the whey, matting the curd, then sub-dividing the curd into chunks not materially greater in size than one-inch cubes, washing the chunks in cool water to prevent rematting, salting the chunks, inoculating thechunks with Bacterium linens, exposing the 30 chunks to an atmosphere having a humidity of not less than about 90% and a temperature of between 74 and 84 F. to ripen the chunks individually, while stirring the material from time to time to insure uniform exposure of the chunks to said atmosphere, and promptly consolidating said ripened chunksby heat to form finished cured cheese.

4. The improvement in manufacturing Limburger cheese, which comprises forming and cutting the curd, draining oif the whey, subjecting the curd to pressure to mat the same, then subdividing the curd into chunks not materially greater in size than one-inch cubes, washing the chunks in cold water to prevent re-matting, salting the chunks, first inoculating the chunks with a lactose fermenting yeast and, after a suitable interval of time, inoculating the chunks with Bacterium linens, exposing the inoculated chunks to an atmosphere having a humidity of not less than about and a temperature of between 74 and 84 F. to ripen the chunks individually, while stirring the material from time to time to insure uniform exposure of the chunks to said atmosphere, and promptly consolidating said ripened chunks by heat to form iinished'cured cheese.

5. The improvement in manufacturing process cheese of the brick type, which comprises forming and cutting the curd, draining of! the whey, subjecting the curd to pressure to mat the same, then sub-dividing the curd into chunks not materially greater in size than one-inch cubes,-

washing the chunks in cold water to prevent rematting, salting the chunks, inoculating the chunks with a lactose fermenting yeast, exposing the chunks to an atmosphere having a humidity of not less than about 90% and a temperature of between 74 and 84 F. to ripen the same, while stirring the material from time to time to insure uniform exposure of the chunks to said atmosphere, and processing said ripened chunks.

HIGBE'E WAYNE BRYANT. 

